Robin van Persie looked as if he might have killed with a single glance. The Dutchman's first home match as the Arsenal captain had ended in defeat by Liverpool and he was hot with rage and frustration. A penny for his thoughts would have been worth the investment yet Van Persie was never going to go public. The 28-year-old knows himself too well.

It was 20 August. Cesc Fábregas had left for Barcelona and Samir Nasri was poised to leave for Manchester City. Arsène Wenger had signed only one established international – the forward Gervinho from Lille – and found himself in the throes of a selection crisis. It felt as though the club had hit rock bottom, although that was to come, at Manchester United the following weekend.

Van Persie bit his lip as he marched out of the Emirates Stadium dressing-room that day because, as more than one club official acknowledged, he can speak only with candour and he realised that the heat of this moment was not the time to vent it. So he stewed, which is something he has done plenty of since the beginning of the summer. But, if Van Persie has given a passable impression of a ticking time-bomb, it was no surprise when he detonated following Saturday's win over Bolton Wanderers, sparking a trail of banner headlines.

Van Persie's admission that he was in no hurry to discuss an extension to his contract, which expires in June 2013, and the associated suggestion that it would be better to wait until the end of the season, has caused no little alarm. The striker could have gone further and he doubtless would have done if he had spoken about the club's direction after the Liverpool or United games. But his words at the weekend sufficed to get the message across and the issue out into the open. As Arsenal labour, Van Persie intends to keep his options open.

The mood of an overseas player in the Premier League can often be judged when he is back with his country on international duty and Van Persie has cut a withdrawn figure with Holland of late, retreating into the company of his close friends Ibrahim Afellay, Khalid Boulahrouz and Nigel de Jong and being unusually reluctant to speak to the Dutch press.

At the end of last season, in the June friendly against Brazil which finished 0-0, he lost his cool at Arjen Robben, after his team-mate ignored the opportunity to play him in. When he was substituted by the manager, Bert van Marwijk, Van Persie stormed straight down the tunnel and he clashed with Robben in the dressing-room after the game. His crankiness was reflected in a post-match statement that was critical of Robben. "Everybody hashis own character," he said. "I would always have played that ball ... I think most players would but I shouldn't have walked away [to the dressing-room] like that."

During the most recent international break, when Holland beat San Marino and Finland, Van Persie declined to speak to the press for fear of any comments about Arsenal rebounding in England. Van Persie would not normally have such concerns and the general impression is that he has become anxious and uncomfortable.

Fábregas displayed similar traits last season, when he kept his own counsel apart from the controversial interview that he gave to Don Balón, the Spanish magazine. When Fábregas finally completed his transfer to Barcelona, there was the view that he might not get into the team but he has thrived in the early weeks of his second spell at Camp Nou. Van Persie, who would back his ability anywhere in the world, would surely have taken note.

Wenger added five players in the final 48 hours of the summer transfer window and he said that he wanted all of his business to reassure the club's existing stars. It is unclear, though, whether it has done so with Van Persie, who had called in early July for "statement" signings to be made.

He could not contain his exasperation with Gervinho in the defeat at Blackburn Rovers, when the Ivorian ignored him in an excellent position to go for goal himself – Van Persie hates selfish players – while, in his eyes, most midfielders would struggle to measure up to Fábregas. Mikel Arteta has big boots to fill.

Van Persie is not the only Arsenal player who stands to become a free agent in the summer after next – Thomas Vermaelen, Theo Walcott, Andrey Arshavin and Johan Djourou are in the same position. But the sense of unease is most acute with Van Persie, who is arguably the club's one remaining world-class talent.

The conspiracy theorists worry about his close links to Darren Dein, the agent who helped to move Fábregas out of the club, although Van Persie's Fifa-registered representative is the Amsterdam-based Kees Vos. Van Persie, however, is his own man and one with no shortage of potential suitors. Yet another Arsenal contract saga is set to run.